Imprisoned Time
by Ppun
Summary: When the mew project all goes wrong and everything turns back to how it was before, the girls just feel like something is missing. Especially Ichigo, who forgot about the mew project after she was forced in having to take out the cat DNA.


I starred at Ryou through the crack of his door. What other secrets could this boy be keeping from me? I've been with him since he was six!

But if I think clearly about it, he was no longer a boy.

Perhaps he was not a boy any longer but was a man. However, the size of his heart was still small.

"The man with the IQ points of a genius! But something still bothers him am I right?" I whispered as I tapped the door and slide it open fully. Ryou slapped the photo frame he was folding in his hand onto his desk.

"Keiichiro! What are you doing here?!" Ryou exclaimed surprised at his former partner's appearance.

"Ryou… I know things have changed, but you can't fool me. It's not too late… And we both know what is the right thing for those girls! Please… let's…… le-" I croaked out of my mouth. But Ryou finished my sentence himself, "Back to Japan? I can't! The mew project is no longer needed! There is no point anymore!"

I smacked my lips together, "I thought you would say that. That is why, I made this." The bulky object that was in my pocket was slowly being lifted away with my hands. My hands were trembling; I didn't know how to tell Ryou that it was I, that could not stay away.

He stared at the object and with a frown, he glared back at me, "You! You contacted the aliens?!"

I shook my head, and gasped as I tried to calm him, "No! Why don't you see? How can Ichigo remember if the aliens don't come back?"

"That's the problem! If the aliens come back, then so does the mew project! I don't have the confidence to do it again… it's a miracle nothing happened to me, but, I was a failure in the mew project from the very beginning! Ichigo will be fine the way she is now-"

I slapped him.

That's right, right then and there, I felt the world fall apart, and I slapped him. How could he not understand? It was not his fault that the DNA started rejecting the girls as they aged and mature. And with, of course, came the extraction of the DNA to save those six lives. Ichugo, Mint, Lettuce, Pudding, Zakuro, and Berry each agreed to go along with the extractions. But of course, Ichigo was always more attached to her cat powers in the rest, and she started falling into shock. It wasn't long before it was amnesia, and she forget everything that had to do with the mew project.

And what else could Ryou and I do? We packed up and left for England. Life went on.. As if the mew project was never there…

"Ryou! Why don't YOU understand? …The mew project was made to protect the earth. With the earth no longer needing, its only normal the mew genes would reject them as well!"

"Exactly," He said dry as he lifted he head back to face me, "If the earth does not need them anymore, we don't either."

I felt my eyes going back and forth, trying to see where this was going. But my gaze went back to the photo frame now faced down on Ryou's desk. I felt my hand moving to lift it. It was of the 8-, no 10 of us, the girls, Ryou, R2000, R3000, and me. Who knew it was going to last for such a short while?

"Even so… There is no reason for us not to need them either," I felt my dry lips move. My fingers moved across the glass frame.

Ryou too, looked at the frame.

I looked back at him, "There doesn't have to be a reason." I felt two eyes look back at me. The only difference was, he was crying.

"Maybe.. you're right…"

I smiled with relief and patted his back. All this stress has piled up, and it was going nowhere. What we thought could not fail, did. And no what else could we do besides fix it?

"Come'on, lets pack and take the next flight to Japan."

"Already?" He looked surprised back at me.

"But of course! I still have these afterall," I held up the mew café keys in front of him. The building we had closed down three years ago. The place felt more of home to me than anywhere else. "We should probably remodel it a little though… it was getting old when we left anyway."

But Ryou was no longer listening to me, but instead was holding up the picture frame again, this time with faith.


End file.
